EMU
professor mixes adventure, science to uncover secrets
of Nicaraguan cave
Eastern Michigan University Professor Ruth Ann Armitage
has heard the comparisons to Indiana Jones before.
 |
CAVE EXPLORATION: Ruth Ann Armitage, an
EMU
chemistry professor, examines what appears
to be
the red outline of a handprint on a cave
wall in
Nicaragua. Armitage and her husband, Dan
Fraser, a
professor at Lourdes College in Ohio,
traveled to the
cave in January to take samples
in an effort to
determine what the drawings are
made of and how
old. Photo by Suzanne Baker |
They are not surprising, considering she just returned
from a trek via mule across rivers in the remote jungle
of Nicaragua to explore a cave that may hold the secrets
of a long-lost civilization.
"It sounds like a bad Raiders movie," said Armitage with
a laugh. "For most chemists, it's all about the lab. We
hang out and make stuff."
Armitage said that most people who know about her travels
are surprised to find out that she is a chemistry professor,
not an archeologist like Dr. Jones.
"I'm an analyst," said Armitage, who is one of only three
scientists to work on the cave project.
And the only way to insure the integrity of what she analyzes
is to obtain the samples and bring them back to the lab.
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